South Korea East Research Articles

A quantitative analysis of multi-decadal shoreline changes along the East Coast of South Korea

South Korea's east coast is facing several issues related to coastal erosion because of sea-level rise, typhoon-induced storm surges, and various coastal development projects. In recent decades, high storm waves have frequently appeared on the east coast, causing casualty, beach erosion, and coastal infrastructure damage, drawing significant public attention. Thus, we analyzed the multi-decadal shoreline changes to understand the coastal dynamics and the forces responsible for the spatio-temporal changes along the 173 km coastline. The shorelines covering 38 years between 1984 and 2022 were derived from Landsat images and the change statistics, i.e., linear regression rate (LRR), endpoint rate (EPR), weighted linear regression (WLR), and net shoreline movement (NSM), were calculated at a 100 m alongshore intervals using Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), revealed several distinct behaviors of shoreline position. The long-period (1984–2022) assessment showed an average shoreline change rate (LRR) of 0.17 m/year with an estimated mean erosion and deposition rate of −0.57 and 2.07 m/year, respectively. The long-term surface gain and loss of the backshore region exhibited that the net surface gain of the east coast is 421.13 ha, and the net loss is 181.82 ha. The assessment of decadal shoreline changes showed a cyclic pattern of erosion (from 1984–1990 and 1999–2010) and accretion (from 1990–1999 and 2010–2022). Furthermore, a secondary level of investigation was conducted to address a wider variety of coastal behaviors by segmenting shoreline change rates based on coast types and average slopes along coastlines. It was observed that the frequent coastal deformation is associated with a flatter beach compared to a steep one. This study found that the artificial structures constructed along the east coast have not completely solved or stopped the erosion issues but shifted it from one location to another. The analysis of local and regional shoreline changes had shown that typhoon-induced storm surges, high storm waves, and anthropogenic activities like encroachment and the development of artificial coastal structures were the primary drivers of coastline changes along the east coast. Finally, we proposed a decision-making classification scheme that can be used to determine the mechanism of decision for protective and preventive measures against further coastal deterioration.

The measurement of atmospheric CO2 at KMA GAW regional stations, its characteristics, and comparisons with other East Asian sites

Abstract. To understand the carbon cycle at policy-relevant spatial scales, a high density of high-quality CO2 measurement sites is needed. In 2012, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) installed CO2 monitoring systems at Anmyeondo (AMY) in the west, Jejudo Gosan Suwolbong (JGS) in the southwest, and Ulleungdo (ULD) in the east of South Korea. Three stations were instrumented with identical greenhouse gas measurement systems based on cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) and a new drying system developed by KMA and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS). This drying system is suitable in humid areas; water vapor measured using CRDS in ambient air was 0.001 % to 0.004 % across the stations. Measurement uncertainties expressed by the quadrature sum of the uncertainties from the drying system, scale propagations, repeatability, and reproducibility were ∼0.11 ppm from all KMA stations in the 68 % confidence interval. Average monthly CO2 enhancements above the local background at each station were 4.3±3.3 ppm at AMY, 1.7±1.3 ppm at JGS, and 1±1.9 ppm (1σ) at ULD, respectively, during 2012 to 2016. At AMY station, located between China and South Korea, CO2 annual means and seasonal variations are also greater than the other KMA stations, indicating that it is affected not only by local vegetation, but also added anthropogenic sources. Selected baseline CO2 at AMY and at JGS in the west of South Korea is more sensitive to East Asia (e.g., China) according to wind direction and speed. Through the comparison of long-term trends and growth rates at AMY with other East Asian stations over 15 years, it was suggested that they could be affected not only by local vegetation but also by measurement quality.

Nonmarine ostracods (Crustacea) from South Korea, including a description of a new species of Tanycypris Triebel (Cyprididae, Cypricercinae)

Preliminary surveys of brackish and freshwater habitats in the southeast and east of South Korea produced a total of fifteenspecies. Ten of these species are new records for Korea, and one additional species, belonging to the genus Tanycypris, isnewly described herein. Twenty-seven species of nonmarine ostracods are now reported from Korea, but this is probablyonly a small proportion of the actual number of species inhabiting the peninsula. The presence of Dolerocypris ikeyaiSmith & Kamiya, 2006, Cryptocandona brehmi (Klie, 1934), Cryptocandona tsukagoshii Smith, 2011, Physocypria nip-ponica Okubo, 1990 and Vestalenula cylindrica (Straub, 1952) on the Korean Peninsula demonstrates that these species are also distributed on the continent, and are not endemic to Japan.

Healing Rhythms: The World of South Korea's East Coast Hereditary Shamans (SOAS Musicology Series). By Simon Mills. pp. xii, 121. Aldershot and Burlington, Ashgate, 2007.

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To Be or Not To Be: South Korea's East Asia Security Strategy and the Unification Quandary

South Korea's Lee Myong-bak government has adopted a new East Asia strategy to cope with the changing security environment on the Korean peninsula, as well as in Northeast Asia. Departing from its traditional dependence on the bilateral alliance with the United States, South Korea now seeks a diversified strategy which includes upgrading the alliance with the US to a ‘strategic alliance’, developing a ‘strategic cooperative partnership' with China and promoting a multilateral security mechanism in Northeast Asia. Although it is not clear how South Korea will handle the contradictory elements and the complexity of the new strategy, it provides a more realistic approach to dealing with a possible North Korean contingency and the question of Korean unification, which should and will eventually be shaped by the two Koreas' choices.